During his closing argument Wednesday, CNN host Chris Cuomo slammed President Trump and Republican Congressman Steve King for using religion as “both shield and sword,” and accused the former of “misusing Christianity.” Cuomo complained that “religion is being used to pander and divide by men who have no business representing themselves as arbiters of the same.”
Strangely, Cuomo did not include South Bend, Indiana mayor and 2020 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg in his monologue directed at politicians who use religion to “pander and divide.”
Cuomo could give that memo to Buttigieg, who has used religion in his series of attacks on Vice President Mike Pence and his opposition to same-sex marriage. That openly gay Buttigieg -- with a husband named Chasten Buttigieg -- has accused the Vice President of having “a problem” with him despite the fact that he has said nothing but nice things about him in the past might also qualify as “misusing Christianity.”
During an appearance at the LGBTQ Victory Fund’s annual brunch in Washington earlier this month, Buttigieg lectured the Vice President: “if you have a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator.” Buttigieg’s comment indicated that he wholeheartedly believes that he was born gay.
Pence set the record straight when it came to how he feels about “Mayor Pete” during an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash; where he mentioned that he “worked very closely together” with Buttigieg during his tenure as Indiana Governor, adding “he knows I considered him a friend.”
After making it clear that “he knows I don’t have a problem with him,” Pence expressed his disappointment with Buttigieg’s political opportunism; telling Bash “I hope that Pete will offer more to the American people than attacks on my Christian faith or attacks on the President as he seeks the highest office in the land.” Buttigieg has attacked Pence’s faith multiple times throughout the past year; most notably during an appearance on The View, when he questioned how a devout Christian like Pence could remain loyal to “someone who’s getting caught writing hush money checks to porn stars.”
Cuomo seemed all too eager to go after Republican politicians for “misusing Christianity,” relying on the “victim complex,” and the use of “us-versus-them” politics. Yet Cuomo did not target Buttigieg, a liberal Democrat, in his closing monologue; he saved all of his ire for conservative Republicans.
Perhaps Cuomo would have managed to call out Buttigieg if he did not choose to come out in favor of a policy that obviously contradicts Christianity: late-term abortion. When all is said and done, the media will always protect those who agree with their worldview; no matter how foolish or hypocritical that may make them look. Cuomo is one of those Biden-Pelosi Catholics on abortion.
A transcript of the relevant portion of Wednesday’s edition of Cuomo Prime Time is below. Click “expand” to read more.
Cuomo Prime Time
04/24/19
09:54 PM
CHRIS CUOMO: Let us embark on the process of the three As, audio, ay-yai-yai, and an argument. Our first step, the latest stylings of Congressman Steve King.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. STEVE KING (R-IA): And when I had to step down to the floor of the House of Representatives and look up at those 400-and-some accusers, you know, we’ve just passed through Easter and Christ’s Passion, and I have a better insight into what he went through for us, partly because of that experience.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Ay-yai-yai, that’s step two. He knows how Jesus felt because of what he went through? Being removed from committees for a steady flow of bigoted comments helps him relate to the Passion of Jesus, the Christ who gave His life to save people like King after being crucified. Why is he misusing Christianity? Why the victim complex? Never owning a mistake, always being put upon by the left, the media, and other imagined foes. The reason we must question whether King is right that he can better relate to Jesus is that he doesn’t seem to get the difference between Jesus’ message and his own.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING: For everyone who’s a valedictorian, there is another 100 out there that they weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert. We could also electrify this…this wire with the kind of current that wouldn’t kill somebody, but it would simply be a discouragement for them to be fooling around with it. We do that with livestock all the time. You cannot rebuild your civilization with somebody else’s babies. You’ve got to keep your birth rate up, and that you need to teach your children your values. And in doing so, then you can grow your population, and you can strengthen your culture, you can strengthen your way of life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Can you believe that was only like two years ago? Look how much I’ve aged. And this is why. You can’t imagine Jesus saying any of that. Odd that Mr. King doesn’t get that as a man of professed faith. Jesus’ message, love, love mercy, blessed are the poor, blessed are the meek, not blessed are those who attack the poor and meek. And when it comes to this use of religion as sword and shield, Mr. King’s most successful acolyte on us-versus-them politics, this President follows the same script. You do know this President went out to visit King early on, right, and emerged with a much harsher stand on immigration? And you know even when the whole party called out King finally, this President refused, still has never said a word about him.
He too sees the use of faith as a convenient shield. Remember this?(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I’m always audited by the IRS, which I think is very unfair. I don’t know maybe because of religion, maybe because of something else, maybe because I’m doing this, although this is just recently.
CUOMO: What do you mean religion?
TRUMP: Well maybe because of the fact that I’m a strong Christian, and I feel strongly about it, and maybe there’s a bias. You see what’s…
CUOMO: You think you’re getting audited for being a strong Christian?
TRUMP: Well you see…you see what’s happened. I mean you have many religious groups that are complaining about that. They’ve been complaining about it for a long time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Being audited for being Christian, this President. Look, we don’t even know if he is being audited. And as for being devout, here are his skills on display.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: 2 Corinthians, right? 2 Corinthians 3:17, that’s the whole ballgame, “Where the Spirit of the Lord,” right, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” And here, there is Liberty College, but Liberty University, but it is so true.
(CROWD LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: You know, when you think, and that’s really…Is that the one, is that the one you like? I think that’s the one you like because I loved it, and it’s so representative of what’s taking place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: “Now the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” That’s the psalm. Some translate the last word as liberty. But the only part he really got right, even though he’s reading it off a piece of paper, is the last part. It is so representative of what has taken place. Religion is being used to pander and divide, by men who have no business representing themselves as arbiters of the same.
The larger problem is this passion for playing the victim. The President has taken this to the highest levels. No matter what it is, it’s someone else’s fault; Comey, the FBI, the DOJ, the Deep State, the Democrats, the media, his lawyer, never him, always the victim. But he is no victim, neither is Mr. King; unless you count being a victim of your own mouth and moral plays. Then, they both have a solid case, but only themselves to blame. No one made Mr. King say bigoted things. No one is compelling this President to practice politics of division and deception. The irony here is that the context for the psalm this President mangled, 2 Corinthians 3, let’s take it 15 to 18, very applicable to both men, and to many of us, by the way, certainly to me. “It is only when you turn to God that the veil of sin and ignorance is removed,” according to the scripture. Only then are you enhanced by the Spirit and free to reflect the glory of the Lord. Now, I’m not pushing faith on you. You know I don’t do that. This isn’t about belief in God, but belief in an ethical and moral imperative. If we are more concerned about saying and doing things that reflect the love of mercy, we will be in a better position.
